Terrie Carr and Mike Anthony interview Tim Montana at WDHA's Rock The Rock Fest 2024
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00All right, I'm here with Tim Montana, who I feel, Tim's one of those guys that connects.
00:13I did a Zoom with him.
00:14I felt like he was like my high school buddy that I was reunited with, just shooting the
00:20breeze and having a great time.
00:23What is it about you, Tim Montana, that everybody likes?
00:28I don't know.
00:30Addictively annoying?
00:32My mom says.
00:34Perhaps.
00:35You know, for those of you who maybe didn't see my Zoom hang with Tim and you don't, you're
00:39just kind of getting familiar with him from, you know, the songs we're playing on WDHA.
00:44He's like, I called him the buzz guy in rock, Mike.
00:46Now, you know the reason why, right?
00:49Why do you call him the buzz guy?
00:51Aside from being super talented and a great songwriter, an awesome singer, a great player,
00:57Dave Grohl wants to be his friend.
00:59He's a business partner with Billy F. Gibbons.
01:04Look at the hoodie.
01:05Look at the hoodie.
01:06A Billy F. Gibbons business partner.
01:09Letterman put him on the show in 2008, found him, put him on the Letterman show.
01:15You were not bearded then, right?
01:18No, it was a terrible time.
01:19You were baby face.
01:20Yeah.
01:21So, like, there's just always something going on with you.
01:24And now you're like this big rock breakout star.
01:27So, talk to me, Tim Montana.
01:29Talk to me, Montana.
01:30Yeah, man.
01:31When you grow up in the woods alone and you don't have people around, when you grow up,
01:35you just want to go hang out with people.
01:37I've met some cool ones.
01:38You've had some humble beginnings.
01:40Yes.
01:40You talked about that.
01:41Dig in the outhouse to Stained.
01:43It's been a while.
01:44Is that what you thought of the story?
01:45Yes, that's a true story.
01:46Yeah.
01:46Yeah.
01:47So, yeah.
01:47Talk to me a little bit about that.
01:48Now, that is definitely coming out in the music for sure.
01:51Yeah.
01:52Yeah.
01:52Yeah.
01:53You dig a couple outhouse holes in the Rocky Mountains, you get humble real fast as a child.
01:57And the instructions were, dig them deeper than myself, and then I could come inside and
02:02have dinner.
02:02And I was like, huh, three days later, I'm famished.
02:07Wow.
02:08Just wow.
02:10So, The Devil You Know, too, is one of those songs, because you're such a lighthearted guy,
02:15I think, when I've talked to you and we've done interviews and stuff, just to kind of see
02:20you.
02:20But the songs are pretty reflective and pretty heavy duty, and especially the first one we
02:25got, which was The Devil You Know.
02:27Talk to me a little bit about that song.
02:29Yeah.
02:29That was something we wrote, gosh, a year or two ago and blew up a rock radio, thanks to
02:34you guys.
02:35But the video, I like being honest about my childhood, hopefully inspiring kids out there.
02:39I had a great mom and not a great person in the other seat, and it was a rough, rough,
02:43rough time, and I wanted to portray that in the music video and bring some of those things
02:49I have nightmares about, still, and just put it on camera.
02:52And my wife is so funny.
02:53She's like, hey, I know you and your buddies all need therapy, but you're having our son
02:57portray you.
02:58He was in the video, yeah.
02:59He's crying on the set, because it's so scary.
03:02And she's like, so if our kid needs therapy because you guys refuse to get it, I'm going
03:06to kill you.
03:07Yeah, right, right.
03:08So, yeah, I don't know.
03:10I'm very honest with it, brutally honest sometimes, and just want to get that story out there,
03:14because I know some people go through that stuff, and therapy for me is putting it in
03:18my songs.
03:19A thousand percent.
03:19And the song we're going to play when we come back from break is called Savage, which
03:23you have said should be listened to extremely loud.
03:27Yes.
03:27So talk to me about the music that you're making now and where you're going, what direction
03:34you're going, because things are happening so fast for you.
03:36You're not the same guy that you were six months ago or the same guy that you were two
03:40years ago or a year ago.
03:42So what's going through your mind musically now, being on all these tours and everything?
03:46Yeah, we just leaned hard into the rock space, which has always been there for me.
03:51I just kind of felt very censored in the Nashville music scene, and finally I was able to spread
03:55my wings and get out there.
03:57And the Savage song is just kind of talking signs of the times, you know, just look around
04:01the world.
04:02It's an interesting time to be alive.
04:03And I wanted to capture that musically and lyrically, and I think we kind of hit the
04:08nail on the head, and everything is savage, turns out.
04:11It really is.
04:12It really is.
04:13And the song is just, it's such a barn burner.
04:16It's awesome.
04:17It's such a banger.
04:18And you and Billy F are buddies too, and I think we're going to have some Whisker Bomb
04:23in the VIP, which is so cool.
04:26Mike and I were watching video of Whisker Bomb stuff, and we were just like, man, we just
04:31can't wait to, can I stuff some in my bag?
04:34Like, am I going to be that lady that's like in the hotel stuffing the soaps?
04:37Am I going to be, is there going to be enough Whisker Bomb to stuff in my bag?
04:40So talk to me about getting into the sauce business with Billy F. Gibbons.
04:44Like, I can't even imagine how amazing that is.
04:51How do you, how does that happen?
04:52Does he find you?
04:53Do you find him?
04:54Yeah, we found each other.
04:56And you own a bar together, right?
04:57Yeah, we own a bar, a lodge together.
04:59I mean, I'm on the phone with that guy a couple times a day, and I don't take it for granted
05:03any time I'm like busy.
05:04Well, is he like a dad that you never had?
05:06Yeah, 100%.
05:07He doesn't have a son.
05:08I don't have a dad.
05:09He filled that void.
05:10I think we filled that for each other.
05:12And we just have this really special relationship.
05:14And everyone's like, is he just an investor in these things, money guy?
05:17And I'm like, no, he is so involved that today I was bouncing a salsa recipe off of him.
05:22And I'm like, hey, I think the scorpion peppers are a little hot.
05:25Let's dial it back.
05:26And he'll be like, hey, amigo, BFG here, checking in.
05:31If they ever do a biopic on him, I could totally play him because I've got his mannerisms.
05:35You totally could.
05:36And didn't you say like that you were at the bar that you guys own together?
05:43And wasn't he like on tour?
05:46And then like he's like, I'm going to stop by the bar or whatever.
05:49And there was just like a bunch of patrons at the bar.
05:50Bunch of cowboys.
05:51And Billy's like up there doing his thing.
05:53Yeah.
05:53Yeah, it was so funny.
05:54It was like a Sunday at 1 p.m.
05:56And it's kind of a slow day, end of summer.
05:59And here comes this giant Prevost tour bus.
06:01And he gets off wearing the suit, glasses, everything.
06:04And everyone's like, that's not him.
06:05They still think it's like a rumor that he bought the place.
06:07And he had like a cap on.
06:09He had the cap and everything.
06:10And then he got on stage and played LaGrange.
06:12And another guy was like, that's not him.
06:13And I'm like, so, you think someone ran into a $4 million coach, dressed like that, and
06:19happened to know how to play LaGrange just like that, and that this is like an actor?
06:23Like, wow, that guy's got to be good.
06:25The beard, he's been growing the beard out.
06:27Billy's fingers.
06:28You know, like when I interviewed him, I was looking at the beard.
06:31There's no doubt.
06:32But those, you look at those fingers.
06:34Oh, yeah.
06:34You know, because I'm looking at them like, and just thinking of all the magic that has
06:38flowed through those fingers, and I could not stop looking at his fingers.
06:42But he's one of the most incredibly genuine guys.
06:44Yeah, so humble, so genuine.
06:45So sweet.
06:46We talked off mic for a while about Prince, because we were both like talking about being
06:51Prince fans, and he's such a sweet, amazing guy.
06:54Yeah, and just so knowledgeable about music, cars, guitars.
06:58And yesterday, my wife sent a video.
07:00He sent a big package for my kids up there.
07:01My daughter opens her package, and he, I had my daughter in Nashville.
07:06She just turned three, and he was in town about two weeks ago.
07:08So him and I went out, and he said, bring River.
07:10That's my daughter.
07:11And the whole day, he just gives her a, like, four-pound piece of chocolate, because she's
07:15a hard sell, right?
07:16Like, she's daddy, mommy, that's it.
07:18That's it.
07:18He gives her a four-pound piece of chocolate, a two-liter of Dr. Pepper, and all of a sudden
07:22she's hugging on him.
07:23And I'm like, oh, my God.
07:24And the entire day, they were both just going nuts.
07:26And what did he say to her?
07:28Give me a Billy Gibbons voice.
07:29Like, what did he say?
07:30And he goes, hey, do you want to go down the slide?
07:32He speaks in this character voice.
07:34And next thing I know, they're in the park at the slide.
07:37And Billy takes his shoes off and goes, should I go down the slide with her?
07:39And I'm like, you know, I'm not the boss of you, but you have a show with Leonard Skinner
07:43tomorrow in an arena somewhere.
07:45I don't think you should climb the ladder and go down that giant slide with a three-year-old
07:50This is really true.
07:50He was going to go down the slide with River.
07:52I made a little reel of the day of those two together.
07:54Amazing.
07:54And I put the Toy Story music behind it because they're holding hands.
07:57Oh, my God.
07:58Boy, we had the biggest time.
07:59So they just love him because he's like a cartoon character to them.
08:02I love that.
08:03That's awesome.
08:03And he is.
08:04He kind of is with Mondo talent beyond, like, reproach.
08:08Fuzzy, you know what I'm going to ask you to do, actually?
08:11Instead of going to break, Fuzzy, I'm going to ask you to move Tim's song to right now.
08:16Fuzzy's our board op back at the station, and he's usually really great.
08:21And, yeah, so just set up Savage just a little bit for me when you went into the studio and
08:25what was in your mind?
08:27Yeah, we went in and had this cool guitar lick and chewed on it for a minute and maybe drank
08:3213 chaladas.
08:3513, huh?
08:36Yeah.
08:36Oh, yeah.
08:37And I tried to re-sing this song sober, and it did not sound as good as the take on
08:43chaladas.
08:43So I'd like to thank Chalada for bringing Savage.
08:46I've never told anyone that story because I really don't drink much anymore, but that
08:50day I did, and Savage was born, and we just went hard about, like, looking around, the
08:54greed of mankind, and the music video is wild.
08:57We went, like, end of the world meets psychedelics, and all of my children are in the video as
09:01well with crazy tribal face paint on.
09:03Is that your kids?
09:04Yeah.
09:04Yeah, because I saw the video.
09:05It's pretty wild.
09:06Yeah, those are all my youngsters.
09:07That's amazing.
09:07But, yeah, this is Savage.
09:09That's amazing.
09:09Tim Montana, it's so nice to meet you in person.
09:12And you're one of those people that I feel, don't you feel like you know him forever?
09:15He's a cool dude.
09:16He's going to hang out.
09:16We grew up together, right?
09:17Yeah, exactly.
09:17Coolest dude ever.
09:18Cool.
09:18We've got to get you to WDHA, too, because I think having Tim doing one of our parking
09:22lot parties, yeah, with a whole lot of whisker bomb would just be a great time for WDHA.
09:29Yes, bring the sauce.
09:30So, Fuzzy, you got my tune ready to roll?
09:33It's ready.
09:34Let's go.
09:34It's Tim Montana and Savage.
09:36Thank you so much.
09:37We'll see you up in the VIP, my friend.
09:38Thanks for having me.